Amazon Boasts App, Developer Numbers Ahead of Smartphone Launch

Ahead of Wednesday's expected smartphone launch event in Seattle, Amazon is boasting its app store and revenue potentional for developers.

Amazon said Monday that its Amazon Appstore, which is a currated grouping of apps from Google Play that run on the company's Android-based Fire OS, has reached 240,000. While that's a far cry from Apple's Apple Store's 1.2 million apps, Amazon does offer many of the major apps available across platforms.

In a statement, Amazon noted that the Amazon Appstore selection has nearly tripled in the past year.

Amazon didn't stop in trumpeting the number of apps in its storefront. The company also claimed that the number of new developers joining the Amazon Appstore per month close to doubled in the last year.

The company attributed the increased developer support to ample revenue opportunities for app makers. An IDC survey commissioned by Amazon found that developers building apps and games for Kindle Fire are making at least as much money (often more) on the Kindle Fire platform as on any other mobile platform.

IDC conducted a survey of 360 smartphone and tablet application developers. The survey examined developers’ experiences selling apps on the Kindle Fire platform. The study found that 65 percent of developers said that their total revenue on Kindle Fire is the same or better than developers’ experience with other platforms, while 74 percent of the same developers said that average revenue per app/user is the same or better on Kindle Fire than other platforms.

That said, Amazon will still have a mountain to climb to succeed in the smartphone market, which it could be argued is even more heavily dependent on app quality and availablity than is the tablet market.

Amazon will have to snag market share from major manufacturers like Apple and Samsung, which together take home about 64 percent of the U.S. smarpthone market.

Amazon is expected to launch its new phone at an event Wednesday in Seattle. Rumors suggest the new phone will have a 3D dsiplay.

Amazon said Monday that its Amazon Appstore, which is a currated grouping of apps from Google Play that run on the company's Android-based Fire OS, has reached 240,000. While that's a far cry from Apple's Apple Store's 1.2 million apps, Amazon does offer many of the major apps available across platforms.